Check out the full detailed patch notes for the June Core Set 2021 update below. As another reminder, you can use the code PlayM21 in the in-game store to redeem 3 free Core Set 2021 packs! Make sure you claim all the available free MTG Arena codes if you have not already.
GAME UPDATE HIGHLIGHTS
Core Set 2021 is now available!
macOS is now supported through partnership with the Epic Game Store!
Check the Status Page for current maintenance information.
Please Note: You may only be logged into one instant of MTG Arena at a time.
Changes to pack collation for fully reprinted cards
IMPORTANT NOTE
Magic: The Gathering Arena now requires a 64-bit operating system.
macOS
macOS is now supported naitively through the Epic Games Store. Same game, same collection, new platform!
For more more information on play MTG Arena on macOS as well as cross-platform support, please refer to our announcement article.
It’s Magic time! Core Set 2021 is now available on MTG Arena!
Core Set 2021 Sealed, Premier Draft, and Traditional Draft events are now available!
Core Set 2021 cards are considered legal in all constructed formats (Historic and Standard)
M21 MECHANICS
PHASING (RETURNING)
When permanents are phased out, they’re treated as if they don’t exist. It can’t be the target of spells or abilities, its static abilities have no effect on the game, its triggered abilities can’t trigger, it can’t attack or block, and so on. They phase in or out before your untap during your untap step.
Phasing out doesn’t cause any “leaves the battlefield” abilities to trigger. Similarly, phasing in won’t cause any “enters the battlefield” abilities to trigger. (Any one-shot effects that are waiting “until [this] leaves the battlefield,” such as that of Kitesail Freebooter, won’t happen when a permanent phases out.)
Each Aura and Equipment attached to a permanent that’s phasing out also phases out. They will phase in with that permanent and still be attached to it. Similarly, permanents that phase out with counters phase in with those counters.
An attacking creature that phases out is removed from combat.
Creatures that phase in are unaffected by summoning sickness. They can attack and use activated abilities during the turn they phase back into play.
PROWESS (RETURNING)
Casting noncreature spells inspires certain creatures to feats of martial glory. These creatures with the returning prowess keyword get +1/+1 for the turn whenever you cast a noncreature spell.
Any spell you cast that doesn’t have the type creature will cause prowess to trigger. Playing a land also won’t cause prowess to trigger.
An ability that triggers when a player casts a spell resolves before the spell that caused it to trigger. It resolves even if that spell is countered.
MILL (“NEW” KEYWORD ACTION)
Players have been putting the top card of their library into their graveyard since the Antiquities set, and that’s quite a lot of words to say to describe the action. Players have called this “mill,” named after the card Millstone, and this term has now been promoted to an official game term
If a player is instructed to mill more cards than they have in their library, they put all of the cards in their library into their graveyard. On the other hand, if a player is given a choice to mill more cards than they have in their library, they can’t choose to do so
Once a player’s library is empty, that player doesn’t lose the game until they try to draw a card and can’t.
DOG (“NEW” CREATURE TYPE)
Core Set 2021 has gone to the dogs in the best way possible! Not only does the set itself contain more canines than you can shake a stick at, all existing Hounds have received errata to be Dogs instead.
CARD SPECIFIC NOTES
TEFERI, MASTER OF TIME
A phased out creature never leaves the battlefield. You can tell when a creature is phased out as it will be surrounded by the ripples of Teferi’s time magic. Mouse over the creature to see the phased out hanger for more information.
NINE LIVES
If there are multiple Nine Lives on the battlefield, MTG Arena will automatically apply replacement effects to keep them all as far away from nine counters as possible, even when taking damage from multiple sources at the same time (e.g. combat damage).
FRANTIC INVENTORY
This card (and similar cards already in MTG Arena) now have a count indicator as a quick reference how many copies are in your graveyard.
Note that this specific card draws one more card than the count!
SANCTUM OF FRUITFUL HARVEST AND SANCTUM OF CALM WATERS
Default trigger orders have been updated for this set, including a change so now you draw your cards from Sanctum of Calm Waters before Sanctum of Fruitful Harvest resolves, and asks you to choose what color of mana to add.
GENERAL
PACK COLLATION AND REPRINTS
If you’ve collected a playset of a fully reprinted card, we will be adjusting the rate at which you’ll receive these cards in store boosters. We’re defining “full reprints” as a card that shares both the name and artwork of a card that already exists in MTG Arena.
You will only receive a copy of fully reprinted cards from a pack after you have received playsets of all other rares and mythic rares (i.e. the same thing we do with a card if it’s banned in Standard).
If you already own a playset (four copies) of a card that is fully reprinted, you will only receive further copies of that card from store boosters if you already own playsets of all other rares and mythic rares from that set (i.e. the same thing we do with a card if it’s banned in Standard).
The game will check this against your entire collection. For example, if you own three copies of Fabled Passage from Throne of Eldraine, and you open a fourth in Core Set 2021, the game will adjust the distribution rate of this card in both Throne of Eldraine and Core Set 2021 booster packs now that you’ve completed a playset.
This change does not impact Limited boosters; you will still receive them at their original distribution rate in Draft or Sealed events.
This change only applies to fully reprinted rares and mythic rares; we will not be adjusting the distribution rate of fully reprinted commons or uncommons.
Core Set 2021 cards that are also available in Jumpstart are treated as being part of Core Set 2021 for anything that affects distribution rate or duplicate protection.
GAMEPLAY
We’ve added a Quick Tap key: Hold down Q to tap multiple mana producing permanents, release to submit all of them at once.
IMPORTANT NOTE: This is optimized for speed, so if you care about the color of mana a source produces, you should still tap that one normally.
We’ve updated the Extra/Consecutive turn indicator. You now see an indicator any time the upcoming turn order is out of the ordinary!
Updated behavior of Brawl Commanders such that they actually do zone transfer when they die or are exiled, and the player then has one chance at the next state based action to transfer them to the Command Zone.
We no longer automatically group replacement effects that appear to be identical if Auto Choose Replacement Effects is turned off.
Mousing over an ability on the stack with an additional cost (say Witch's Oven sacrificing a creature) now indicates the card used to pay that cost.
Cards in paper that allowed you to search the graveyard or your library and then shuffle your Library only if it was searched now do the same on MTG Arena.
Cards that use the new keyword Mill have appropriate hangers and interactions.
Cards that have a badge for the number of instant and sorcery cards in your graveyard now show that badge in all zones.
Cards that care about the count of cards of the same name in the graveyard (like Undead Servant)now show a count of those cards everywhere other than on the battlefield.
CARDS
Mystic Subdual: We now show the “Mutating onto the creature won’t give it new abilities. It can gain abilities in other ways.” reminder text on Mystic Subdual’s rule text, not just in a hanger.
DECKBUILDER
Added a in-game tool tip to show all of the advanced search commands usable in the deckbuilder’s search filter:
Added several improvements to the deckbuilder’s “pile”/horizontal view:
In the deckbuilder, “pile” / “column” view can be expanded and retracted to take up most of the screen (similar to when viewing a preconstructed deck in our in-game events)
Searching for cards in this expanded view splits piles into two horizontal rows, with the cards searched for in the top row and other cards in the bottom row. For example, searching for creature (T:Creature) :
In Sealed and Draft events, when in the expanded horizontal view filter buttons ( ) can be used to add all cards of that color to your deck from your sideboard
Suggested cards are highlighted in blue, and can be removed with the filter buttons as well. They are finalized into the deck by saving or closing the expanded view.
When importing decks, misspelled names are ignored if you have the set name and collector number on the line.
STARTUP
Information about startup, and what specifically is happening, is now more specific about the step you’re in. This should help with identifying and troubleshooting any startup related issues:
EVENTS
Cards from Core Set 2021 are now in Standard individual card rewards (ICRs). Cards from Guilds of Ravnica, Ravnica Allegiance, War of the Spark, and Core Set 2020 are no longer potential rewards for Standard ICRs. These sets will now be available in Historic ICRs.
A permanent Brawl queue will be available starting July 1. It will award both quest progress as well as daily/weekly win rewards. With this in place, Brawlers’ Guilhall and Wednesday Brawl events will come to an end.
QUICK DRAFT SCHEDULE
June 26 – July 10: Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths
July 10 – July 24: Core Set 2021
FNM HOME SCHEDULE
Follow social distancing guidelines, and stay connected with your local game store as you participate in FNM Home on MTG Arena!
June 26: Celebrate Core Set 2021 release, any play event on MTG Arena you wish!
July 3: Singleton
July 10: Artisan
ADDITIONAL EVENTS
July 4 – July 7: Standard Metagame Challenge
July 11 – July 14: Core Set Constructed
STORE
NOW AVAILABLE
Core Set 2021 now available inside the store. Pick up the new Set Mastery Pass, Core Set 2021 Packs, and Showcase Bundles!
5 Planeswalker Showcase Bundles are now available inside the store. Each bundle features the core planeswalkers and their respective spells for 800 Gems or 4,000 Gold.
Theros Stargazing sleeves from the Secret Lair bundles are now available inside of “Sleeves” in the store. Also the Thalia Guardian of Thraben Sleeve!
New “Super Bundles” will occasionally appear in the store for a limited time providing a significant discount on card styles for popular decks.
BUNDLES
New Feature: Bundle prices automatically update based on the cosmetic contents you own!
The discount for the bundle is applied to each item individually; so you are only purchasing for the content you don’t have in your collection. The items you have already collected will be dimmed in the bundle display.
Example:
Bundle A is discounted at 50% off and contains 5 common card styles.
To a player has none of the contents, the price would be 1000 gems (5x Styles at 400 gems per, all 50% off).
To a player who owns 2 of the card styles already, the price would be 600 gems (3x styles at 400 gems per, all 50% off).
Now available for purchase (through the Deckbuilder):
Nightmare Shepherd Soul-Guide Lantern Whisper Squad Adventurous Impulse Forbidden Friendship Dirge Bat Everquill Phoenix Sea-Dasher Octopus Cubwarden Gemrazer Pacifism Blood Curdle Dreamtail Heron Migratory Greathorn Fire Prophecy Rumbling Rockslide Ram Through Boot Nipper Essence Scatter Daysquad Marshal Ketria Crystal Raugrin Crystal Zagoth Crystal Indatha Crystal Savai Crystal Sudden Spinnerets Garrison Cat Heightened Reflexes Unexpected Fangs Spontaneous Flight Wingfold Pteron Hornbash Mentor Frillscare Mentor Wingspan Mentor Duskfang Mentor Keensight Mentor Vadrok, Apex of Thunder Of One Mind Nethroi, Apex of Death Snapdax, Apex of the Hunt Brokkos, Apex of Forever Illuna, Apex of Wishes Ruinous Ultimatum Inspired Ultimatum Genesis Ultimatum Eerie Ultimatum Emergent Ultimatum Boneyard Lurker Necropanther Trumpeting Gnarr Lore Drakkis Regal Leosaur Heartless Act Boon of the Wish-Giver Fight as One Blitz of the Thunder-Raptor Migration Path Insatiable Hemophage Showcase Style Auspicious Starrix Showcase Style Archipelagore Showcase Style Porcuparrot Showcase Style Huntmaster Liger Showcase Style Dirge Bat Showcase Style Everquill Phoenix Showcase Style Sea-Dasher Octopus Showcase Style Cubwarden Showcase Style Gemrazer Showcase Style Necropanther Showcase Style Lore Drakkis Showcase Style Boneyard Lurker Showcase Style Regal Leosaur Showcase Style Trumpeting Gnarr Showcase Style Nethroi, Apex of Death Showcase Style Vadrok, Apex of Thunder Showcase Style Brokkos, Apex of Forever Showcase Style Snapdax, Apex of the Hunt Showcase Style Illuna, Apex of Wishes Showcase Style Thalia, Guardian of Thraben Helvault Style Thalia, Guardian of Thraben Lunarch Style Thalia, Guardian of Thraben Chapel Style Thalia, Guardian of Thraben Eldrazi Style Brain Maggot Meddling Mage Nyx-Fleece Ram Pack Rat Thalia, Guardian of Thraben Barren Moor Forgotten Cave Lonely Sandbar Secluded Steppe Tranquil Thicket Ancestral Mask Inexorable Tide Sigil of the Empty Throne Virulent Plague Waste Not Bojuka Bog Dragonmaster Outcast Ghost Quarter Knight of the Reliquary Terravore Goblin Ruinblaster Maelstrom Pulse Merrow Reejerey Platinum Angel Ranger of Eos Dreamtail Heron Showcase Style Migratory Greathorn Showcase Style Vulpikeet Showcase Style Cavern Whisperer Showcase Style Cloudpiercer Showcase Style Parcelbeast Showcase Style Majestic Auricorn Showcase Style Pouncing Shoreshark Showcase Style Chittering Harvester Showcase Style Glowstone Recluse Showcase Style
LEAVING SOON:
Note: The Explorer Bundle is being retired soon; grab it now if you want this deal before it leaves. An exciting new bundle will soon be arriving to take it’s place; stay tuned!
Having two Angels of Vitality in play caused no longer causes visual bugs in the damage VFX when your opponent was attacked.
Spending mana from Domri, Chaos Bringer on a mutating spell no longer causes causes unbounded gaining of Riot
Guardian Project now interacts correctly with the triggering card being bounced or flickered before Guardian Project resolves.
Emblems created by Planeswalkers that also create a token (but not with the Emblem) no longer display the token when moused over.
The very top of the title of some full-card hangers (e.g. where it shows the backside of a double-faced card or a related token) on your opponent’s cards were being cut off. We’ve nudged that down a few pixels. Never be confused if it’s a token or a transformation again!
Cards that were sent to the bottom of the Library would briefly visually appear to be on top. This has been fixed (hurray!).
Full art tokens that gain abilities also gain a text box to display them in.
Tokens created by copies of creatures that had been mutated over a creature that creates tokens weren’t displaying art. They are now.
Cards on the battlefield now only get “…” badges when they have abilities that don’t have an icon, or would have 4 or more badges.
Fixed multiple issues with cards not showing styles correctly when zone transferring or mutating.
Fixed an issue where choosing a mutating spell as a source to prevent damage from does not result in preventing damage from the permanent it becomes.
Now if you prevent damage from a Porcuparrot, and then they flash something over it, you’re still good.
Fixed a missing string for paying mana in order to attack.
Cards that say you “may mill” no longer let you do so if it would require you to mill more cards than you have remaining.
Adventure cards that have been exiled but didn’t go on an adventure no longer show Adventure VFX.
Fixed an exploit that allowed players to hold control without the timer counting down.
We’ve updated Jenn Ravenna Tran’s artist credit in game, in line with their preference.
Fixed a bug that could cause badges to be inappropriately shown on cards in the deckbuilder and collection
When importing decks, misspelled names are ignored if you have the set name and collector number on the line
Editing a deck no longer removes favoriting!
Deck format drop-down in the deck manager scene is now large enough to show all deck formats!
Deck Manager format is saved when leaving and returning to the scene.
KNOWN ISSUES LIST
The Korean translation for the Core Set Constructed event description erroneously implies Core Set 2019 is legal in Standard. It is not, but all three core sets on MTG Arena (Core Set 2019, Core Set 2020, and Core Set 2021) are legal in this event.
set, and that’s quite a lot of words to say to describe the action. Players have called this “mill,” named after the card 
) can be used to add all cards of that color to your deck from your sideboard
